Department for Communities and Local Government

Affordable Housing

Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they plan to take in respect of their starter homes policy, in the light of the decision in R (on the application of West Berkshire District Council and Reading Borough Council) v. Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2015] EWHC 2222 (Admin) removing affordable housing contribution exemptions from small developments.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: As my Rt. Hon Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his report Fixing the Foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation, as part of our manifesto commitment to build 200,000 Starter Homes over this Parliament, we intend to expand the current Starter Homes exception site policy to include more types of underused or unviable brownfield land and strengthen the presumption in favour of development for Starter Home developments.The Government remains concerned about the burden certain Section 106 contributions place on small scale development and the possible impact on the number of houses being built. We are seeking to appeal the judgment

Social Rented Housing

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implications for meeting the housing needs of homeless people and those living in overcrowded conditions of social housing stock being sold off.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: Since 2010 the Government has invested over £500 million to help local authorities and the voluntary sector prevent and tackle homelessness, enabling local authorities prevent over 935,000 households from becoming homeless.The Government wants to help hard working families achieve their dream of home ownership. But not all tenants of housing associations are able to benefit from the discounts the last Government introduced. That’s why this Government want to give housing association tenants the same home ownership opportunities as council tenants. Each housing association home sold under the Right to Buy extension will be replaced.Local authorities should use resources effectively and efficiently and those with a Housing Revenue Account will be required to sell vacant high value housing in order to help fund the building of more affordable homes and the extension of Right to Buy to housing association tenants.

Housing: Construction

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the constraints preventing the achievement of the 200,000 annual housebuilding target.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Government has no annual housing target but is taking action through a wide range of programmes to boost housing supply and to increase home ownership.

Council Housing

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the decision to cut social housing rents on the maintenance of existing council housing stock and the number of new council houses likely to be built in the short, medium, and long term.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: We made a commitment in the Summer Budget to reduce social rents in England by one per cent a year for four years from April 2016. This will help protect tenants from rising housing costs whilst protecting taxpayers from the rising costs of subsidising rents through housing benefit. We are confident that local authorities and private registered providers will be able to find and make efficiencies to accommodate the new rent settlement while meeting their Decent Homes responsibilities. The Government remains committed to delivering 275,000 affordable homes over the course of this Parliament.

Wales Office

Severn River Crossing: Tolls

Lord Wigley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with ministers of the Welsh Government about the future of the charging of tolls on the Severn Bridge.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: We will set out a timetable for decisions on the future of the Severn Tolls shortly. In taking this forward we will ensure we consult fully with key interested parties, including the Welsh Government.

Ministry of Defence

Iraq: Military Intervention

Lord Morris of Aberavon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the rules of engagement for British soldiers embedded with the United States forces in Iraq have been changed; and whether those rules allow military action outside Iraq.

Earl Howe: The UK does not comment on rules of engagement (ROE) used by other Nations. However, UK personnel embedded with other nations remain subject to UK military jurisdiction and are personally responsible for ensuring that their actions when acting in self defence or participating in, or supporting, offensive operations are in accordance with UK law and with the UK's interpretation of international law.

Type 26 Frigates

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the planned operational life of a Type 26 frigate.

Earl Howe: The planned operational life of a Type 26 Global Combat Ship is at least 25 years.

Navy: Military Aircraft

Lord Carlile of Berriew: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the future of the Royal Navy Air Squadron.

Lord Carlile of Berriew: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the future manpower, equipment, potential and likely deployment strategy of 736 Naval Air Squadron.

Earl Howe: 736 Naval Air Squadron, based at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose in Cornwall, provides a wide range of training at sea, including maritime aggressor training and air threat simulation, for the Royal Navy and international Defence allies.While the Ministry of Defence aims, in the future, to take advantage of synthetic training environments, a requirement to support Defence training activities with live aircraft will remain. The future delivery of this training, including the overall equipment and manpower requirements, will be decided through the Air Support to Defence Operational Training programme

Department for Work and Pensions

Jobseeker's Allowance: Disqualification

Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to make a more comprehensive analysis of sanction rates for Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants.

Lord Freud: DWP statisticians are considering all of the points raised by UK Statistics Authority about the publication of sanctions statistics and what additional information and commentary is appropriate to explain this complex area.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government under what circumstances, if any, they impose benefit sanctions on persons lacking literacy, numeracy and computer skills, or those with language, communication or mental health problems; and if sanctions are imposed on such groups whether they plan to discontinue them.

Lord Freud: The decision to temporarily halt a jobseeker’s benefit payment is always thoroughly considered and is not something we do lightly. It is a consequence of a jobseeker not meeting the conditions attached to receiving their benefits without good reason. Jobseekers are only ever asked to meet reasonable requirements, taking into account their circumstances and capability. The requirements and consequences are clearly communicated with them throughout their claim and set out in their Claimant Commitment. The vast majority of jobseekers fulfil their requirements and do not receive a sanction.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration, if any, they have given to imposing community service, instead of benefit sanctions, on benefits claimants who wilfully fail to comply with the rules.

Lord Freud: I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave on 13 July 2015 to Question UIN HL1119 when I wrote, “there are no current plans to replace benefit sanctions with community service.”

National Insurance

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what checks are made to ensure that applicants are entitled to (1) reside within the United Kingdom, and (2) work within the United Kingdom, before new National Insurance numbers are issued.

Lord Freud: The Department for Work and Pensions conducts thorough identity, immigration status, and right to work checks on all applications for National Insurance Numbers. The Department works closely with the Home Office to identify anyone with no valid right to reside or work in the UK and an applicant who could not demonstrate that they were in this country legally would not be given a National Insurance Number.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Oilseed Rape: Neonicotinoids

Baroness Parminter: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of recent field trials of rape seed treated with neonicotinoids and the impact of neonicotinoids on bumblebee populations.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The Commission has begun a review of the science relating to neonicotinoids and bees. This will include effects on bees from seed treatment and granule uses of the restricted neonicotinoids on any crop. The Government will contribute fully to this review and will base its view on future regulation of neonicotinoids on all the available scientific evidence. We are aware that there have been a number of new studies since 2013. Initial results from a large field trial being carried out by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology to look at honey bees, bumble bees and solitary bees are expected later this year.   The UK Expert Committee on Pesticides has the task of advising Ministers on issues relating to the authorisation of pesticides. It considered recent research on neonicotinoids and pollinators, including the recent report by Rundlöf et al, at its May 2015 meeting. The detailed record of the meeting states that the Committee “agreed that this was a complex and evolving issue that required careful judgement, based on a weight of evidence approach”. The Committee agreed to come back to the issue regularly at future meetings.

Oilseed Rape: Neonicotinoids

Baroness Parminter: To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what date they took the decision to grant an emergency application from the National Farmers’ Union to use neonicotinoid seed treatments in the autumn of 2015; when this decision was announced; and, if there was a gap between the date of decision and date of announcement, what was the reason for the delay.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The decision was taken on 21 July and was communicated to the applicant on 22 July. Details of pesticide authorisations issued are placed on the Health and Safety Executive website. These authorisations were issued to the National Farmers’ Union on 24 July and were placed on the website on the same day.

Hunting: Crossbows

Lord Hanningfield: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to introduce legislation to ban hunting with bows and arrows, and crossbows.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The management of wildlife is a devolved matter. In England and Wales, the use of a bow or crossbow to kill or take any wild animal is currently prohibited under section 11(b) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. There are no plans to allow bow hunting in England or amend the Act in this respect.

Mycoplasma Bovis

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have evaluated the potential risk of Mycoplasma bovis to the national dairy herd and to milk production; and if not, whether they plan to do so, and within what timescale.

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to raise awareness amongst livestock farmers of Mycoplasma bovis disease.

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to work with the farming industry to address the problems caused by Mycoplasma bovis.

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have identified any potential risk to human health from Mycoplasma bovis.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: Through the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the Government is aware of the current situation of Mycoplasma bovis in cattle in England, Wales and Scotland and has funded work on Mycoplasma species. This work is published and information about Mycoplasma bovis has been made available to livestock owners through the Cattle Health and Welfare Group and various pharmaceutical companies.   The disease has been recorded in the UK since 1974 and is more often associated with calf pneumonia than with its impact on milk production in the UK. The organism is host specific to cattle and has only ever been reported twice in man, in immunocompromised patients in both cases.   An assessment was carried out in 2010 on any links between animal Mycoplasmas and human health. The conclusion of the assessment was that human infections are very rare, but may have occurred and that the potential for human transmission could not be totally excluded.   The Minister of State for Farming, Food and Marine Environment has discussed individual cases of Mycoplasma bovis and their implications with the Chief Veterinary Officer during the course of the last twelve months, and we continue to monitor the disease.

Hill Farming

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of a further reduction in income for upland farmers on ecosystem services and landscape management.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: We have recently increased the direct payment rates for upland farmers under Pillar 1 of the Common Agricultural Policy to ensure they are distributed more equitably across all English farms. These increases will help prevent a fall in income for upland farmers following the expiry of existing support under the Uplands Entry Level Scheme.   Upland farmers are also eligible to apply for support under the new Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme, which is focused on improving biodiversity and water quality, mitigating flood risks and enhancing the landscape.   We will monitor the impact on upland farmers of these changes to Common Agricultural Policy support arrangements.

Neonicotinoids

Lord Jones of Cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what scientific evidence they based their decision to lift the ban on neonicotinoids.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The UK Government has not lifted a ban on neonicotinoids. There is not a ban, but a restriction on the use of three neonicotinoids in place since 1 December 2013. A number of uses remain approved. The restriction has been implemented in full.   The main European regulation on pesticides provides for limited and controlled use of the restricted neonicotinoids on an exceptional basis to control a danger which cannot be contained by any other reasonable means.   The Government considers applications for such emergency authorisations according to the legal requirements and the best available scientific evidence. The UK Expert Committee on Pesticides advises Ministers on what authorisations are capable of being issued. The Committee considered two applications for emergency authorisations, each for two separate neonicotinoid seed treatments for winter oilseed rape this year. They recommended the first application, which requested authorisation to use neonicotinoids on 79% of the national crop area, should be rejected as their use was not limited and controlled. They recommended that the second application, to use neonicotinoids on 5% of the national crop area, should be accepted as the use was limited and controlled, was subject to stewardship arrangements and was to control a danger which could not be contained by any other reasonable means.   The Committee’s advice has been published online and copies will be placed in the House Libraries.   The European Commission has begun a review of the science on neonicotinoids and pollinators. The Government will participate fully in that process.

Food

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have sought advice from bodies such as Public Health England on their plans to support productivity and growth in the food and drink sectors.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: We have regular meetings with the Department of Health and Public Health England to discuss issues of common interest, including our plans to support productivity and growth in the food and drink sectors.

Food

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether plans to support productivity and growth in the food and drink sectors are in conflict with other Government priorities to reduce obesity and alcohol-related harm.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: There is no conflict between plans to support growth and productivity in the food and drink industry with other Government priorities relating to obesity and alcohol related harm. We want to expand UK food and drink production so that we can displace imports and increase our exports. We aim to see more consumers benefit from access to our world-beating, high quality and nutritious food.

Home Office

Human Trafficking

Lord McColl of Dulwich: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in (1) 2013–14, and (2) 2014–15, how many potential victims of trafficking referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) were accommodated by the National Asylum Support Service; and of those, how many received (a) a positive reasonable grounds decision, and (b) a positive conclusive grounds decision.

Lord Bates: In 2013/14, 1,282 referrals were made into the NRM, of which 537 were accommodated in NASS accommodation. Of those in NASS accommodation, 403 individuals were issued with Positive Reasonable Grounds decisions, of which 154 received a subsequent positive Conclusive Ground decision.In 2013/15 1,800 referrals were made into the NRM, of which 716 were accommodated in NASS accommodation. Of those in NASS accommodation, 632 individuals were issued with Positive Reasonable Grounds decisions, of which 126 received a subsequent positive Conclusive Ground decision.

Capital Punishment

Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have taken steps to ensure that any funding they provide to counter-narcotics schemes in other countries, including Iran, Pakistan and The Gambia, promotes the removal of the death penalty.

Lord Bates: The UK works with a range of international partners to combat the flow of illicit drugs. We do so to tackle the international drugs trade and minimise the threat it poses to the UK and its citizens. The UK Government takes its domestic and international human rights obligations seriously. We remain opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and are consistent in our communication with international partners on this issue. Promoting and safeguarding human rights is, and will remain, a fundamental component of our international work.

Bail

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the findings by Professor Hucklesby of Leeds University on pre-charge bail; and what action, if any, they plan to take in response to those findings.

Lord Bates: Professor Hucklesby submitted her findings as part of the public consultation launched by my Right Honourable Friend the Home Secretary in December last year. Officials have been in contact with Professor Hucklesby and have arranged for her to address the next meeting of the PACE Strategy Board in October.Professor Hucklesby’s findings are broadly supportive of the reforms to pre-charge bail which the Home Secretary set out in response to the consultation in March of this year. Legislation to give effect to those reforms will be brought forward in the Policing and Criminal Justice Bill later this year.

Police and Crime Commissioners: Elections

Lord German: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each year between 2011 and 2014, how many people were eligible in each police area to take part in elections for police and crime commissioners in England and Wales.

Lord Bates: The Home Office does not hold information on the number of eligible electors in each police area in 2011.For 2012, when the first elections for Police and Crime Commissioner took place across England and Wales, the Home Office does not hold verified data. However, this information should be available directly from local authorities via the relevant Police Area Returning Officer (PARO).For 2013, the Home Office does not hold this data.For 2014, the number of eligible electors in the two police areas where by-elections took place were: West Midlands: 1,974,518; South Yorkshire: 1,010,599. This information has been verified by the relevant PARO for each police area. The Home Office does not hold data for eligible electors for the remainder of police force areas.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Lord Blencathra: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to authorise the sale in the United Kingdom of anti-drone ammunition for use in 12-gauge shotguns.

Lord Bates: There are currently no plans to authorise the sale of such ammunition in the United Kingdom. However, any ammunition which is armour-piercing is prohibited under section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Civil Service: Redundancy Pay

Lord Empey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the source of funds being made available to the Northern Ireland Executive to allow it to finance the voluntary exit scheme for Northern Ireland Civil Servants.

Lord Dunlop: Under the Stormont House Agreement the Government will provide the Northern Ireland Executive with flexibility to use Reinvestment and Reform Initiative capital borrowing powers to fund a Northern Ireland public sector voluntary exit scheme.